Outsiders
by Gm505
Summary: Following her dismissal from ONI, Madison Parke is reassigned to running security in the beautiful new garden colony of New Arcadia. But when her job takes her to neighouring Carson, she realizes there's something very wrong on the planets, and all the while her former employer is watching her...vetting her...but for what? Will include appearances from multiple fiction characters.


**Chapter 1**

_From: Gauntlet_

_To: Lancer_

_Cc:_

_Subject: Madison Parke_

_After consulting with Tanto, Ivy and Rook I've come to the conclusion that Madison Parke is not a suitable candidate for REDACTED. While I do not doubt her abilities, her past speaks for itself. We have all agreed that Parke should be removed from your list of potential REDACTED candidates. She is more than capable of serving our needs from her current position, even if she doesn't know it. Ensure her talents are used._

She couldn't see his face. It was dark, and the heavy rain obscured her vision. The temptation to shoot him where he stood was almost overwhelming. Madison tightened her grip on the trigger of her sidearm as a UNSC team flanked her, their MA37 automatic rifles aimed at the terrified man who stood with his back pressed up against his garden fence. They shouted over each other, ordering him to get on the ground. The man screamed back, he was speaking a different language. It sounded French, and he had a strong New Arcadian accent. Two gunshots rang out from the house behind them. Those shots were from an assault rifle, MA5B series. Madison recognised the sound, even over the wind rain and shouts. She ought to. She still bore the scars from her last encounter with one, after all.

Carson wasn't exactly one of the safest colonies in UNSC. It was one of the first new worlds to be colonised by the UNSC after the end of the Human-Covenant war and despite the beautiful vistas and breath taking nature of the garden world, it was a shit hole. Had it not been for the mind defying deposits of liquid gas deep beneath the planets crust, the UNSC would probably beg the Sangheili to glass it. Carson IV was a magnificent opportunity for humanity's leaders to prove they could still colonise distant planets, but the pre-war principle of 'Outer colonies are for the poor' apparently kept true. Civilian super-freighter CAA Augusta and her light frigate escorts UNSC Flynn and UNSC Union set course for the planet, Augusta carrying over ten thousand souls destined to make this new world their home. They were naturally all convicts, impoverished civilians and a menagerie of disgruntled individuals who had lost everything to the Covenant.

The main settlement on Carson, Carson City expanded faster than any other colonial population in the post-war era. The rush to participate in the gas mining was likened to California's gold rush in ancient human history, albeit less pleasant for those who made the journey. After several months of digging, they were still to reach the gas. It was mostly down the dangerous Gephar that stalked the lush jungles of Carson. Gephar bore a resemblance to lions from earth, only they were faster, stronger and had hinds tough enough to withstand a light calibre weapon. On Carson it was widely accepted that if you left the boundary zone of a settlement and you weren't in a scorpion tank you were as good as eaten.

Living in the shadow of the infinitely more successful New Arcadia on the other side of the sun, Carson probably didn't deserve the publicity it got across the rest of UNSC space. The population from Augusta multiplied like bacteria, and were about as pleasant. Despite all the investment into developing the planet as a new resource powerhouse, money never seemed to reach the ninety nine per cent, leaving them embittered and spiteful of the UNSC and Colonial Administration Authority. And who could blame them. With their cousins in New Arcadia living a life a plenty and luxury, Carsonians had a tendency to be less than welcoming to outsiders, usually kidnapping tourists and holding them for ransom. Yesterday, outsider meant Karina Mills, the teenage daughter of a prominent New Arcadian industrialist. And today, outsiders meant Madison Parke and her team of UNSC marines, dispatched on a rescue mission to the outskirts of Carson City.

Madison cursed under her breath. MA5B's hadn't been in service since the early twenty second century, which meant whoever fired it wasn't friendly. As the marines around her closed on the man, she spun on her heel and entered the house behind her, her gun raised and the trigger gently squeezed.

"Marines, status!" she yelled, turning a corner into what must have been a kitchen. She heard a muffled groan coming from behind one of the units. Her weapon still raised, Madison scanned the room, moving around the furniture to see the source of the noise.

Marines, status update!" she shouted again. Aside from the shouting outside and the storm battering the small house, there was quiet. She turned the corner. One of the marines slumped against the wall in a pool of slowly expanding blood, a pair of messy holes in his dark green armour secreting dark red blood.

"_Fuck_" she hissed as she bent down to check the man's pulse. He was still alive, thank god. He made another sound, as if he were choking. The bullets must have punctured his lungs. He needed medical attention fast if he was to see tomorrow. Holding her gun in one hand, she moved in front of the wounded soldier so he could see her. The nametag on his armour read _Kinski, Isaac B._.

"Man down! I need a medic in here! Now dammit!" She lifted his head with her free hand and looked into his masked face. "Isaac, listen to me. You're gonna be alright, got that? Medic's on his way." The soldier lifted his head slightly and Madison assumed he was looking into her eyes for some sort of solace. He made another noise. "Try not to talk." But he made another noise. He sounded more desperate, more urgent.

"Medic! I have a man down in here!" she screamed again. The wounded marine shifted a little and made another despairing gargle. Then a dark shadow was cast over her and the soldier. She turned her head, and stared down the barrel of an MA5B. A grinning man held the rifle, pointing it down at Madison's head.

Madison gulped and instantly broke out in a cold sweat as adrenaline almost caused her heart to feel as if it burst from her chest.

"Game over, soldier whore" he said mockingly. Madison closed her eyes. She could smell the smoke from the recently discharged weapon. Undoubtedly this was who shot the marine. "Please…I have a son" She thought of Adam, her three year old son, living on Earth with his grandparents. "Just put down the-"

There was an ear-splitting crash and the entire kitchen wall exploded in on the trio. Madison was thrown against the opposite wall and buried beneath twisted metal and flaming debris. Her ears were ringing and her vision was gone. She could only see black. She couldn't move and couldn't breathe. Billowing wind from the outside gale gushed into the room, bringing freezing rain that quickly extinguished the fires. Madison could now hear screams coming from outside. It sounded dull and droning, she wanted them to stop so she could concentrate on Adam. Replay his first steps and first word in her mind over and over. She was dead, she accepted it. Or at least dying.

She could hear the screaming more clearly now, and her vision had returned. It was blurry, and there was a large section of roof hanging down above her head, swaying in the wind. It creaked and jerked downward, stopped by luck alone. Madison's vision was sharper now, and she snapped out of her trance. She blinked rapidly a few times to clear her vision completely. She struggled to free herself from the debris covering her. Fortunately she wasn't badly hurt, at least not that she could tell as she was numb all over. The roof segment was still moving from side to side, about to crush her.

"Ngh…fu…" she moaned as she pushed a large piece of wall off her chest. She heaved herself upright and saw that her legs were pinned beneath large chunks of wreckage. She scrabbled at the rubble with her hands, aware that if she didn't get up she could die any second. The roof creaked again accompanied by the screech of twisting metal.

A hand grabbed Madison's shoulder. She turned to face the newcomer. It was a marine. "Lieutenant Parke are you alright?"

"Unpin me the roof's coming down!" she rushed, again pulling at the debris on her legs. The marine pulled the wreckage of her in a few seconds and Madison rolled to the side just as the section of room collapsed. She lay on the ground on her back, coughing from the dust of the impact. The marine stepped around to help her up.

"What the hell just happened?" Madison spluttered, still clearing dust from her throat.

"I was watching the front entrance when explosion knocked me down. The blast killed the medic, you should get looked at ma'am." The marine picked up the MA5B from a pile of collapsed wall. The handle end of the weapon protruded from the mess of shredded kitchen unit, complete with the burned and severed hand of the man who last held it. _Game over. Asshole_ Madison thought.

She digital ammo counter was broken so she pulled out the clip to check the bullets. It looked full. Likely the only two missing bullets could be accounted for inside another marine.

"Where's Mills? Did we get her?" asked Madison. If she lost most of her team and the hostage on the same mission, it would burn her career. No idea ma-" Gunshots filled the air.

The marine fell forward with a yell into Madison as bullets entered his back. The falling soldier knocked Madison to the ground again. More bullets kicked up dust and ash around her as two men with pistols fired at her from the front of the house. A third man held a screaming girl by the hair, dragging her outside. Madison was pinned beneath the wounded marine. She could feel him breathing against her as the two armed men bellowed curses at them. A bullet hit the marine in the back again. He died instantly.

Still stuck under the corpse, Madison lifted the MA5B and fired it over the head of the dead marine, the shell casings bouncing all over his back. The two assailants ducked as the shots shredded the walls around them. They both backed out the room, after the third and the hostage. Madison pushed the body off her and pulled the sidearm from his holster, holding the rifle in one hand. She stood up and looked down at herself. She had a decent amount of blood on her, and she couldn't tell if it was even hers. Using her teeth she racked the barrel of the pistol.

That girl was still out there, and she needed help.

Over the howling weather she heard a vehicle start up. She ran to the front door and peered out. Through the rain and dark she could see four people climbing into a white car. A fifth, in the driver seat we yelling at them to move faster. Madison knew they should, in half a minute pelican gunships from the nearby airbase would be here. But that didn't mean she wanted them to. She couldn't shoot a gun at them, not in this weather, or she could hit the hostage. There had been enough fuck ups today. As the car drove off, she ran out onto the road after it, but it was hopeless.

Madison threw the MA5B down in despair. Shit, this could only get worse one way. And if she couldn't get that girl then that way would become a reality. A searchlight shone down on her. She turned and looked into the stormy night sky, squinting at the descending pelicans. The pelican with the searchlight stayed in the air, about fifteen meters above the ground and surveyed the wreckage of the house. The other landed, and four heavily armed marines jumped out. Wait...these weren't marines. One of the soldiers approached her.

"Lieutenant Commander Parke? I'm Staff Sergeant Jones, commander of fireteam Mercury. Spartan IVs are ready to assist, what's the situation."

Madison stared at the soldier. And raked her hand through her hair. "My team is KIA or wounded, the hostage is held by four men, two are armed but likely they all are. They took off in that direction in a white vehicle."

The Spartan nodded and turned to his team. "All right Mercury back in the dropship, we've a girl that needs saving!" The other Spartans wordlessly jumped back into their seats in the pelican as the other landed, with a team of medics running to the house. Jones turned to Madison from the cargo door of the pelican. Madison stared at the Spartans; she had never seen one before, only in UNSC propaganda posters and recruitment videos.

"Ma'am." The Spartan's voice penetrated her thoughts.

"Coming with?"

* * *

AN: OK so that's chapter 1, it's short i know but the next ones will be longer. If you liked it then please review, id love the support!


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